Happy Birthday, Ashlan!

To my sweet, beautiful, loving baby girl who was born 6 years ago on Earth Day! We love you so much! You have brought more joy and love into our lives than we could ever imagined! We are thankful to God every single day that he picked YOU to place into our arms! We are so lucky! Love you sweet girl!

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Bedtime Stories with the Principal

Ashlan's elementary school had a silent auction with some awesome items/events to bid on! One of the events to bid on was Bedtime Stories with the principal. If you were the highest bidder, you won an evening where the principal of the school would come to your house and read you bedtime stories before bedtime. Doesn't that sound fun!! Well, one of Ashlan's close friends was the highest bidder! She called Ashlan and asked her (and a couple of other friends) if they could join her for an evening at her house while the principal was there reading. Isn't that sooo thoughtful and generous!! Ashlan was SOOO excited about being a part of this fun event!

Their wonderful principal read and read and read......

Such a sweet picture!

Group hug to end a wonderful evening!!!!


Ashlan is so blessed to have such wonderful, thoughtful friends, including a FABULOUS principal who loves the students so much! What a fun memory to treasure!

My Spring Time Baby

I love Spring time! The weather starts getting beautiful, the bluebonnets bloom, and our special little girl has her birthday!! It's a great season! Yesterday, we spotted some bluebonnets not far from our house, so we decided to go grab some pictures while we could. Yes, it was hot and the grass was very itchy for Ashlan, but she was a trooper! We also came home and took some more candid shots! Enjoy!!

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Making progress...

Many of you know I've been trying to get my craft room in order for months now. It's taken so long because I just haven't been so sure about how I want to have it, how to set it up, how to utilize it, what to store in there, etc.....

Back in January, I found this at Michael's (or was it Hobby Lobby?)


It hold ribbons, paints, jars with safety pins, paper clips...whatever you can think of!

When I saw it, I immediately thought it would be perfect for the craft room! I happened to mention what I saw to my mom and a couple of weeks later, it was there for me for my birthday! Thanks, Mom!!!

It took me two months to get it up on the wall. Didn't I tell you above I've been stalling in that room. But yes, this weekend I put it up on the wall.

I'm still thinking of what to store on it, but I did get a few spools of ribbon organized on it. I LOVE this Embellishment Wall Center and I think EVERYONE needs one of these. If you don't have a 'room' to put it in, put it on the wall in a closet! It's fantastic!!!

Now that I have all my 'fabric' and wired ribbon up on the Embellishment Wall Center, my container just holds the 'curly' ribbons.


I still can't figure out how to really organize wrapping paper. Forever now, i've just had these two containers. One for Everyday/Birthday/Shower paper and one for Christmas paper. It seems to work for me. I keep these containers in a closet upstairs, not in my craft room.


Then there's the tissue paper, gifts boxes, gift bags. It's all in the closet upstairs with the wrapping paper. The large container on the floor holds all the gift bags (minus Christmas bags) The red bag on the floor holds all those small jewelry boxes, gift card boxes, etc...


So yes, my wrapping paper and boxes/bags are upstairs hidden in a closet. But my ribbons stay downstairs with me in the craft room. That's just the way it's going to be. And it seems to be working...

By the way, this whole post was dedicated to Kalyn!!!! Let me know any ideas you come across, Kalyn, that may help me!

Fruited Pasta Salad

I've been on a salad kick lately, trying out new recipes to devour!!!
I am a stinker for fruit! I'm always throwing bowls of fruit together. So when I came across this Fruited Pasta Salad, I thought I'd give it a try. It doesn't disappoint! Enjoy!

Fruited Pasta Salad


1.5 cups uncooked spiral pasta
1 can (8oz) unsweetened pineapple chunks
1 carton (8 oz) peach yogurt
2 tbsp sour cream
1.5 cups cubed cantaloupe
1 cup halved seedless grapes
1.5 cups sliced fresh strawberries

Cook Pasta according to package. Drain, rinse in cold water, cool completely
Meanwhile, drain pineapple, reserving 2 tbsp of juice
In sm bowl, combine yogurt, sour cream, and reserved pineapple juice until smooth. Refrigerate.
In lg bowl, combine pasta, pineapple, cantaloupe, grapes. Just before serving, stir in strawberries.
Drizzle with yogurt mixture. Toss to coat.
Enjoy!

Dallas Arboretum

Ashlan's Kindergarten class had their field trip this past week to the Dallas Arboretum! It turned out to be beautiful day with wonderful weather! I went as one of the chaperones for Ashlan's class, therefore I was given the responsibility of four children in the class to walk around the Arboretum with and enjoy the day! Enjoy the pictures!

My four children for the day! Wonderful, wonderful kids!!

The kids had fun playing chase and tag on the lawn.

The girls chasing after the cute boy!

Again, all the girls chasing the boy! Yes, crushes begin in Kindergarten!!!

Sweet Friends

Ashlan

Observing the lily pads

Playing hard

Much fun at the wooden houses!

Ashlan and one of her closest friends!

My girl!!

Easter Weekend

We had a fabulous, relaxing Easter weekend at the lake! Enjoy the pictures below!

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Rice and Bean Salad

My friend, Jaime, gave me this recipe awhile back. This is one yummy salad! I just had to share it with you!
Make it! It's easy! You will NOT be disappointed!



Rice and Bean Salad

2/3 cup brown rice cooked with 1 1/3 cup chicken broth
1.5 cups cherry tomato
1/2 red pepper
4 green onions
1/4 red onion
1/3 bunch of cilantro
1/2 jalapeno (seeded)
1/2 cup frozen corn (thawed)
15 oz kidney beans (or black beans)

Optional: carrots, cucumbers, avocado

Dressing
3 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp basalmic vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
dash of cayenne
dash of pepper

-Prep the rice
-Chop the pepper, onions. Put in bowl.
-Finely chop cilantro and jalapeno. Add to bowl
-Add corn to bowl
-Drain beans, Add to bowl
-Prep dsg. Shake well
-Let rice cool. Toss veggies and dressing with rice.
-Serve cold!